I grew up on five acres of land,
of which about half was a long, narrow field which merged into
a swampy woods. I spent many a sunny summer day crawling through
tunnels in the long grass of the field with siblings and friends.
Sometimes we would take peanut butter sandwiches and kool-aid
and have a picnic lunch as we balanced on a bent over tree branch
or sat on the rusting frame of an abandoned wagon that had mostly
rotted away. After dark we would play hide and seek in the field.
And the woods provided endless hours of exploration. Sometimes
we would dig around and find old bottles in the ground. Once we
even caught a fish, which we kept in our fish tank for a long
time.

The charm of the wintertime woods was a little different. The
swamp had just enough water that we could ice skate when it froze.
It wasn't very smooth, and we had to skate around trees. But it
was enough to make us happy by the time we trudged back through
the field, with pink cheeks and cold fingers, to the house.

For me, the field and the woods on my parents' property holds
happy memories, perhaps most of all because it was a place and
a time of freedom. There we were safe. The only eyes on us were
watchful eyes, looking out for our safety. There were no grave
dangers-- no traffic, no bullets flying, no one to lead us astray,
no drugs, no violence, and no prejudice. There in the field and
the woods we didn't learn how to hate. We weren't enticed by money
or possessions. We did gain an appreciation for the goodness of
God's creation. And we learned to give and take, and how to get
along.

Not all the world's children have opportunities to learn such
lessons. In some places orphans are locked away with hardly a
chance to see daylight. In other places, life is always in peril.
Christ came to set us free. But perhaps the world will know the
freedom Christ brings only when all the world's children live
in the safety and freedom of the field and the woods. --JAL

Prayer: God of the free, you sent Christ to inaugurate
peace on earth. As an instrument of your peace, show me how to
make all of the world's fields and woods and cities and villages
safe for people at any stage of life. Amen.

For your meditation: What does being free mean to you?
Free from what? Free for what? What
freedoms did the world gain with Christ's birth? What freedoms
does God give? What connections are there between freedom in the
world and the freedom Christ gives?